


Distractions

by ottermo



Series: Predictions [6]
Category: Humans (TV)
Genre: F/M, Series 3 Predictions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-16
Updated: 2018-05-16
Packaged: 2019-05-08 00:17:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14682498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ottermo/pseuds/ottermo
Summary: Laura is working late when a certain Dr. Sommer drops by.





	Distractions

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Series 3 Predictions challenge on tumblr, but since I'm uploading late, the promo material has contradicted it by now. Neil Sommer is a behavioural scientist, for instance, not a roboticist. Oh well, posting for posterity!

 

“Okay, bye, Mats. Be safe.”

Laura’s frown deepens as she hangs up the phone, all-too-aware of how pointless it is to warn her daughter to stay safe, these days. There are no guarantees. At least Sophie and Toby are safe at home, she reflects, even if Mattie can’t help but be in the centre of the action.

She tries to put the Smash Club out of her mind, and returns to her computer. They are counting on her. For any of this to pull together, they need legislation. It’s tedious, thankless work at the moment, but she reminds herself that without it, nothing they achieve outside this office will be worth their sacrifice.

So she keeps on going.

For a while there is nothing but the sound of her fingers striking the keys. When the door opens, she half expects Astrid or Fiona, but instead it’s Connie, a sweet smile on her lips and a steaming mug in her hands.

“It’s getting late. I brought you some coffee.”

“Bless you. What would I do without you, Connie?”

The Synth enters the room and sets the mug on Laura’s desk. “You would have to stop work in order to make a drink.”

“I was—“

The mischievous look on Connie’s face tells Laura she understood the first time. Laura chuckles. “You almost had me.”

“Also,” says Connie, “Doctor Sommer is here to see you.”

Something swells up in Laura, a feeling she can’t quite name. “Did he say what he wants?”

“Just checking in,” says a voice from the hallway, and in through the open door to Laura’s office strides Neil Sommer, discarded lab coat slung over one arm. “I had a feeling you’d still be here. Midnight oil still going strong, or d’you need a refill?”

Laura picks up her coffee. “Just got one, thanks.”

“I’ll be downstairs if you need me, Laura,” says Connie, and Laura smiles and nods in acknowledgement. Doctor Sommer, for his part, pulls up the spare chair.

“Is this really a social call, or do you have news for me?” Laura asks.

“Can’t it be both?”

He pulls a USB drive from his pocket and wiggles it in the air. “Try this out for size.”

She takes it. “Is this…?”

“I hope so. It’s either a folder of snapshots from my holiday in Tuscany, or it’s your rootcode breakdowns.”

“You’re a star. I thought we’d have to wait til tomorrow.”

“Don’t thank me yet, it might just be the rootcodes.”

“Ha bloody ha.”

The folder pops up on Laura’s computer screen, everything neatly labelled and ready to go. Niska’s going to help her make sense of them and embed them in the report, but it’s already a big step in the right direction.

“Ah, perfect,” she says. “Seriously, Neil. Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. We’re doing the right thing.”

Laura raises her eyebrows. “We?”

He has the grace to look a little bashful. “Not we, you-and-me, I mean… we, all of us. That lot might have the numbers, but we’ve got what matters.”

She looks at him expectantly. “Which is?”

“The truth.”

She hums in agreement. “Of course, by ‘that lot’, you mean everyone you work with, and for.”

“Not everyone,” says Neil.

“But most of them.”

“Well, that’s why you need me. Friends in high places, and all that.”

He holds her gaze. Then, when she turns back to her screen, he says, “Right then. I’ll be off.”

“You can stay, if you like. Keep me company.”

She doesn’t take her eyes off the computer, doesn’t want to see if he looks tempted or smug or indifferent.

“I don’t want to be a distraction.”

Laura blinks away the face that immediately comes to her mind. Maybe she  _needs_  a distraction. Just not in the way he might think.

 


End file.
